Family
An archetypal theme in the novel is family and namely what a person is willing to do to make sure that his or her family will remain safe and sound. The mother remains in charge of her little family after her husband is taken away from her. Thus, she has to assume the role of a father as well and work to sustain her family. But despite all the hardship, the mother never complains and she never lets it be understood that she regretted what she had done for her family. Instead, she tries to reassure everyone that they will be ok and that in the end everything will work out just fine.
Racism
Another imperative theme in the novel is racism and how it affects people, both the general population that is told that a certain minority is dangerous and how it affects the minority. The group that is affected the most is the minority the others have prejudice against and most often they are persecuted and driven out of their homes. This affects the way a person perceives himself and it makes him feel less worthy of being respected and of receiving love and affection. Racism also affects the general population that feel like they have to behave in a certain way towards the minority. They do not feel however the same amount of adversity the state feels and so they feel torn more than often between their desire to do their duty towards their country and the desire to do what they know it is the right thing.
Lose of identity
What is common for the characters mentioned in the novel is a sense of loss of identity that comes with being taken away from home and put into a hostile environment. The characters all learn how to behave to attract the less attention to them and this often means denying their natural instincts and needs. Because of this, the characters become a shell of what they were in the beginning of the novel. The mother loses her strength, the children lose their rebellious side and the father loses his authoritarian instinct. All this affects then greatly so in the end the characters are no longer happy and content with the life they have.
